Breather
by fabled wings
Summary: It's a Wednesday and Jounouchi's having one horrible incident after another. Will his day ever get better? Polarshipping for R1 of the YGO Fanfiction Contest S9 3/4


Breather

So it was late. Horrendously late, because Jounouchi works the night shift and it's not a _mid_night shift but he still gets home later than midnight every Wednesday anyway.

And this by itself wasn't that big of a deal at all, he's been doing this for close to six months anyway – that's twenty-six weeks of running for the last bus that would take him two blocks away from the flat that he shared with his ass of a father who was getting better about the drinking, but still an ass.

But this particular Wednesday was just not Jounouchi Katsuya's Wednesday. Nope. It started with the neighbourhood stray dog barging in front of his bicycle when he was off delivering papers, and he had to swerve so hard that he almost crashed into a lamp post and suffered a slight sprain in his ankle when he let his foot down to bring the bicycle's momentum to a halt. It was a small incident, so he didn't think much about it then, but during his afternoon shift at the neighbourhood Chinese restaurant, he received a text from Shizuka that she was most likely unable to meet him the coming Saturday, because their mother made plans to visit some prospective colleges for her and she couldn't very well say that she wanted to meet her older brother, since their monthly meetings were a well-kept secret. And then his boss had caught him staring at his cell phone during working hours and gave him a good tell-off, and Jounouchi just lamented his hard luck because this was the one and only time he had disobeyed the guidelines, and he just had to have been found out. At least it was only his first offence, and it was minor.

Then he had to stay back an hour more because one of the other waiters had a sick wife and had rushed off home to take care of her, thus Jounouchi had to miss grabbing some dinner to get to his shift at the convenience store on time where, thank god, nothing out of the ordinary happened, but Jounouchi half-wished he could have grabbed a candy bar off the shelves because he hadn't eaten since lunch and he never did well on an empty stomach.

And he just missed the last bus.

Jounouchi spits out a coarse word as he glares at the retreating headlights of the bus, then plops himself on the bench and leans his elbow on his knees, sighs heavily. His breath comes out in a cloud of mist, chilled by the cool autumn air. He sneezes, because he hasn't been registering that winter would be arriving in the next few weeks, and he hasn't bothered to get himself a thicker, warmer scarf to protect himself from the elements. He feels in the pockets of his cargo pants. He doesn't have any tissues or a handkerchief with him.

Well, it was time he started walking home. If he brisk-walked, it should take a half hour to get back to his apartment, and it would probably warm him up too.

He feels a dull jolt of pain in his ankle not twenty steps away from the bus stop. Right. His ankle. He hadn't really noticed it much even though he had been standing throughout the day, but now that he wasn't kept busy it was going to bother him the rest of the way home. Jounouchi continues at his pace anyway. A little pain was nothing to him. He's had worse.

And then it starts raining.

It's a drizzle at first, but it gets heavier in minutes, and Jounouchi strips off his jacket and uses it as a makeshift umbrella. It's not very helpful, since it's a simple flannel jacket bought off a thrift store and hardly had any waterproofing ability, so Jounouchi gets soaked to the bone.

He seeks shelter in a store's awning, and flips open his phone despite his wet hands. The digits at the top of the screen blink 23:47. He looks through his contact list and ponders getting Honda to give him a ride home… which was highly unlikely, since he lived all the way across town and at this time of the night, it would be a miracle if he managed to get permission to drive his dad's car. He skims over the cab company's number in deliberation, because every yen he earned counts towards bills and necessities and he might go to college one day, so he wasn't going to waste precious cash on a stupid cab ride.

Although not having to walk home in the rain sounded really good… Jounouchi shakes his head to clear his mind of the temptation.

His phone beeps in his hand, and then blacks out. Jounouchi blinks at the darkened screen; he knew he should have connected it to the charger the night before. Oh well. Time for him to play the waiting game, because he sure as hell wasn't going to run home when the rain was falling harsh enough so that he could barely see whatever was across the street.

Oh, and some van just sped by and sprayed water at his feet. Not fun.

Jounouchi was ready to punch the nearest wall, because this day just didn't seem to want to let him off and he was getting increasingly frustrated and he's freezing and tired and- his stomach just grumbled again. Chinese sounded really good right about now, or a slice of pizza, or warm noodles, or…

To be frank, a swollen ankle, being unable to see his sister, missing the last bus home, and getting caught in the rain while cold and hungry didn't seem like really huge problems if put in perspective, but fact is that he's feeling pretty darn miserable this very second and if this rain didn't let down soon it won't just be rainwater flowing down his cheeks-

Bright lights assault him all of a sudden, and Jounouchi lifts an arm to shield his eyes as he takes a step back, ramming his ankle into the wall. He grits his teeth as the lights fade slightly and a car skids to a stop in front of him, driver's side facing him and a front wheel on the curb. It honked once, then a succession of three more as Jounouchi stares at the car.

… If whoever's manning the car was planning to kidnap him, they're doing a pretty darn horrible job at it. Did they expect him to willingly submit to them and happily enter the back seat or something?

Now that his eyes have adjusted and he looks closer at the car, it did seem somewhat familiar, didn't it? The slight bulk, the high roof, and when he narrows his eyes into squints he could swear that it's his girlfriend at the wheel.

Well, whaddaya know, it really is his girlfriend at the wheel, but he only confirms it when she rolls down the window, situated right under the awning so she won't get rain in her car.

He's shocked at first, because this turn of events seems way too fortunate, but when Kujaku Mai honks a fifth and sixth time and glares at him exasperated, he knows he doesn't have to pinch his cheek to find out if he's dreaming. A wide grin spreads over his face as he half-skips over and climbs into the back seat in haste. Jounouchi doesn't think he's been ever more glad to see his girlfriend.

It isn't any warmer in the car since the AC's turned on, but it feels great anyway to fall back on cushioned seats as Mai steps on the pedal and drives off. Jounouchi grabs some tissues from the back of the front seat and wipes sweat and water off his face and hands, but it's futile since he's still dripping all over the back seat.

"You're dripping all over the back seat," Mai kindly states to her boyfriend.

"Yeah, stuff it, I'll clean it up in the morning," Jounouchi isn't quite bothered to rebut her since he's blowing his nose into a tissue. "You said you weren't going to be back until Friday."

"I got an early flight," Mai turns back briefly, just enough so that her eyes are still on the road, and flashes him a slight smirk. "I thought I'd surprise you, but I didn't expect to find you looking all…"

"… Pathetic? Me neither," Jounouchi sniffs, and now that his nose is cleared he picks up on a scent. And extremely warm, comforting scent that makes his mouth almost water and his stomach growl in response. "Chinese?"

"Chow mein, egg foo young, oyster vermicelli…" Mai trails off. "A celebratory meal for my win in the Italian Championships. I was going to get you some curry rice but all the restaurants had sold out of it."

"… Mai, you're amazing, you know that?"

"Of course I do." A few moments pass in silence; Mai seems to contemplate something, before taking a U-turn. "Also, we're going back to my place, but you're not getting near me until you're cleaned up. Any objections?"

Jounouchi shrugs, because Mai's plain mocking him with that question; why would he _not_ want to spend a night at his girlfriend's place? It sure as hell sounded more pleasant his dingy flat right now, and he hadn't spent time with his girlfriend in weeks. He smiles as he leans his head back against the seat and closes his eyes.

This Wednesday may have been the worst day ever, but it was definitely going to be the best night ever.


End file.
